


Muffled

by voasshekh



Category: dan and phil
Genre: HoH, I swear this one has a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 23:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13258755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voasshekh/pseuds/voasshekh
Summary: A friend challenged me to write something where one of the characters has my hearing, so here ya go, chica :)





	Muffled

**Author's Note:**

> A friend challenged me to write something where one of the characters has my hearing, so here ya go, chica :)

“Ok Dan, we need to leave at 11 to make it to lunch before we have to be at the station.”

“Yea, yea, I know, I’ll be ready in a sec!”

“Daniel,”

“Yes,”

“11 o’clock was fifteen minutes ago,”

“Wait what?! Shit, coming!”

As Dan rushed out the door, he barely remembered to grab his phone and wallet from the bedside table, completely forgetting the small case lying next to them holding the two tiny objects that let him truly hear the rest of the world.

***

They slid into their favorite booth at the cafe, having just thirty minutes to eat before they had to rush off to the radio station. Even though they were technically late, just as always their minds wandered down the rabbit hole as soon as they began to eat.

“What do you mean, it’s Dumbledore!”

“Yes, Phil, I’m aware who it is, but he had ulterior motives behind everything he did for Harry, beginning potentially before his parents’ death.”

“But Dan, it’s Dumbledore!”

Dan watched Phil’s lips, reading the syllables as they flew from his mouth. The noise of the restaurant behind them nearly drowned out what Phil was saying, but Dan knew him so well that it was easy to tell what he was saying just from watching. He glanced down for a moment to grab a bite, looking back up to Phil shaking his head.

“What?” he asked defensively.

“I asked if you could argue against Dumbledore saving Harry’s life by giving him to the Dursleys. You forgot your ears again, didn’t you?”

Dan reached behind his ears to feel for the two computers that helped him hear, to find that Phil was right (per usual) and he’d left them at home. 

“Dammit, sorry! It’s fine though. What you’re forgetting, however, is Sirius as the wild card. He could have been a great parent, but everyone assumed he would have been horrible, and Harry ended up in an abusive household for the first eleven years of his life!”

And with that, the pair fell into their trademark easy banter, giggling hysterically by the time they got to their studio at the radio station. Their producer laughed as they rushed in, barely making it into the room on time, just as they did every week.

They looked over the plan for that night’s radio show, figuring out who had to run where in the BBC building to gather the needed props and equipment. Phil was heading downstairs to the spare storage room on the first floor, and Dan upstairs to a coworker’s studio to borrow some fancy sound thing their producer had scribbled onto his hand so he couldn’t forget.

Dan ran, well, he walked as quickly as his too tall and out of shape body would allow him to, up the stairs to go get the equipment, hoping to get the dreaded human interaction over with as quickly as possible. Thankfully his own producer had said that he would be grabbing the mic from a woman, so there was a good chance he’d be able to hear her without too much trouble. In theory. 

“Breathe, Daniel,” he muttered under his breath, trying desperately not to let his anxiety get away from him. Shaking his head, he rubbed the empty spots behind his ears and hurried up the next flight of stairs. 

A crackling noise sounded above, stopping Dan in his tracks as he tried to hear the PA system above him. The fan in the conference room next door made it so he nearly had to strain just to make out the words.

“There has been a security breach in the building, we are requesting that all persons in the building move-” the fan was too loud, Dan tried to quietly move past the doorway. “-the eighteenth floor office areas. Please move quickly and quietly, and listen for further updates.” 

Well shit.

Looking up at the stairwell door in front of him, the words “Floor 16” took far too long to process, imprinting themselves in his brain before Dan was able to understand and rush up the stairs behind them. Why that specific area of the building to move to? He didn’t know, but the anxiety of not having his ears coupled with fear of why the hell the building was on high alert and he stopped thinking beyond getting there as fast as possible.

***

The old, rarely used PA system crackled to life above Phil’s head as he waited in the elevator moving ever so slowly down to the first floor. 

“There has been a security breach in the building, we are requesting that all persons in the building move to evacuate through any and all exits, avoiding at all costs the eighteenth floor office areas. Please move quickly and quietly, and listen for further updates.”

The doors to the elevator opened just then, onto the first floor. The few secretaries were quickly gathering their things, security guards appearing at stairwells and elevators and others near the doors to usher people out. One spotted Phil, urging him out of the building.

“What’s going on?” he questioned frantically, fear setting in.

“A security breach, we need everyone out so that we can take care of it.” 

That was the only answer he received. In the following minutes, maybe a hundred people joined him outside the doors, secretaries and producers and radio hosts and maybe even a visiting celebrity or two.. But he couldn’t find Dan. He looked everywhere, peering over the crowd for the tall brunet, but saw nothing. 

He grabbed a nearby security guard who was keeping the crowd contained.

“Sir, my co-host, he’s not here. He can’t hear well, he may have missed the announcement, we need to find him, please-”

“We’re doing what we can, I’ll let the police know there’s a person unaccounted for. Just relax, sir, I’m sure everything’s fine.”

And that’s when the first gunshot sounded from the building.

***

The sound echoed through the building, crashing through Dan’s skull in a way he’d never experienced.

What the fuck, he thought to himself, thinking that there was no way in hell anyone could have a gun but knowing that was one of the few things that could make a noise like that… and how was it so loud? It must’ve been so close, and surely he wouldn’t have been told to go towards- oh.

For what felt like the billionth time that day, Dan cursed whatever twisted genetics made his ears the way they were, cursed his carelessness for making him always forget his hearing aids. He ducked into the nearest doorway and underneath a conference table as another shot rang out, painfully loud.

Peeking his head up so he could just barely see through the half-glass walls of the room he was in, he frantically looked for the source of the shots, both desperate to see what was going on and praying to every deity known to man that he wouldn’t see anyone. 

He got one of his wishes. Religion had never been his focus in life, and God must’ve been having one epic laugh.

The man walked towards the door of the conference room, gun swinging around him as he twisted frantically, seemingly protecting himself from something.

Bastard, you’re not the one who needs protection! Dan thought, trying to make himself as invisible as possible.

He apparently didn’t try hard enough, because the man quickly kicked open the door and rushed into the room, pointing the gun straight towards Dan.

“Get up, get out here!” he shouted, the gun in his hands trembling as he gestured with it for Dan to move. 

He gripped it with both hands, held straight out in front of him, nervously adjusting his grip every few seconds. He was tall, not nearly as tall as Dan but certainly not short, his hair black and messy, a rough beard to match. He wore jeans and a black shirt, no hat or gloves to hide his identity. He looked crazed, twitching anxiously, always glancing behind him for some incoming threat. 

But Dan noticed none of it. Shaking, he got to his feet, eyes staring down the barrel of the gun aimed at his face.

“Please, why, don-” 

“SHUT UP!”

Dan listened, What else was he supposed to do when faced with certain death? Phil would laugh, someone had finally gotten him to not only shut up but do what he was told. It was a running joke between them, and the exact reason he’d been running late in the first place. Maybe if he listened he wouldn't be in this position, thinking about all the wrong things when he should have been focused on saying a silent goodbye. 

“No, no, no,” the man said, muttering just loud enough for Dan to hear. He looked out the window of the room, frantically twisting the gun between and and the doorway. 

“Don't come in, I’ll shoot him, I swear!” 

With that, Dan finally noticed the SO19 team quickly surrounding the room. A police officer called something to the man, but he couldn't fully make it out. 

The painfully loud noise that followed echoed through the room, seeming to split apart Dan’s head from the inside. He was on the ground, pulled there from the point of nothingness that sprouted pure agony through every nerve in his body. He lost every sense of being, he was trapped in a fiery pain that overwhelmed every part of him. He couldn't even feel the hands pulling him to his back, pushing on the wound to stop the bleeding, it all blended into what must have been the true essence of hell. 

***

The ambulance crew rushed into the room, one medic taking over for the police officer holding pressure on the wound while the others held down the man who was writhing in agony, pinning him so they could inject a sedative into his arm. His movements slowly got weaker, his screams beginning to die, as the crew began taking vitals and packaging the wound for transport. A man behind them was being dragged out in handcuffs, an officer walking to the other end of the room and picking up the remnants of the bullet that had torn through the patient's shoulder. 

They moved him onto a gurney quickly, thankful for the elevators as they tried to prevent much more blood loss. Numbers were called out and recorded, his vitals remaining steady but elevated from the trauma all the way to the hospital. He was quickly brought through accident and emergency into an operating room, the hole clear through his shoulder cleaned and stitches closed. A pin was put in to hold his shattered collarbone in place. IVs gave him fluids, blood, morphine. Monitors displaying vitals were hooked up and placed around his bed. And his best friend sat beside him, gingerly holding his hand as if afraid he might break it while somehow simultaneously gripping it like it was the only thing keeping him from falling apart. 

Dan kept his eyes closed as he slipped back into consciousness, not quite sure if he was able to move but definitely sure that he didn't want to try. He couldn't help the slight quickening of his breathing or uptick of his pulse that naturally set in with his waking. 

“Dan?” came a soft and scared voice beside him. 

He blinked against the harsh fluorescent lights, his dark brown eyes flickering around for a moment before settling in on the deep blue ones staring at him. 

“Oh my god, Dan,” was all it took for them to both start crying, the toll of the day setting in on them both. 

“I'm sorry, I should have made sure you had them, made sure you were out, are you in pain? Oh god, you're awake, um, should I call? I should-”

“Phil,” his voice was raspy and quiet but enough to cut off his nervous rambling. 

“Phillip. I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm alive. It's all good. It's not your fault.” He managed, coughing slightly by the end. 

Phil just looked at him and sighed.

“Not my fault?”

“Definitely not your fault.”

“Then dumbass, don't forget your hearing aids! We talked about this!”

They both broke into giggles, Dan’s turning to coughs while Phil wiped the tear tracks from his eyes. Dan was okay, they were okay. 

After a moment, Phil glanced back at Dan, meeting his eyes for a brief moment before glancing down towards their clasped hands.

Dan pulled his hand out of Phil’s and reached up slowly, lightly pushing Phil’s chin up before his hand fell back to the bed. “What’s wrong, Phil?” he asked slowly, knowing that when his best friend got like this he had to be careful if he wanted any sort of answer.

“It’s just…” Phil took a deep breath, glancing down one more time before finally meeting Dan’s eyes. “I was so scared, not seeing you there. I was worried you were lost or afraid and nobody knew what was going on. Then I heard, and, all I could think of was losing you. We knew nothing, I knew nothing, and all of my worst nightmares started playing in my head. I.. I don’t ever want to lose you, Dan.”

Gazing at him for a moment, Dan squeezed his hand and gave him a small smile. “Well you can’t get rid of me that easily,” he started, trying to work through the confusion of pain and fear that disguised the clarity of the memories. 

Mimicking Phil now, he glanced up to avoid his eyes as he spoke.

“I was scared,” he finally spoke softly, still refusing to meet Phil’s gaze. “I was so so scared that I’d never see you again. That I was going to die and god knows what would happen then and I’d never get to say one more obnoxious sarcastic thing to my best friend.”

Phil wiped his eyes with his free hand quickly, not wanting Dan to see him once again in tears. He wanted to push him, to know everything that happened, to hold Dan close and never again let him out of his sight, but at the same time knew that this was something Dan would have to come to him about first. He’d never seen Dan like this before, trying to be strong but at the same time so vulnerable. 

They needed to be there for each other, Phil needed to be there for Dan. Every time that Dan had held him together through a bad day, every time that Dan had been there for him, Phil had to bottle up all the strength Dan had pulled together for him and use it to be there for his friend. 

He took another deep breath before turning to Dan, this time with confidence beginning to edge his features.

“We’ve got this, right?”

Dan just blinked at him for a moment.

“What the hell do you mean?” 

“I mean you’re going to get better and the two of us are gonna go back out there and kick the world’s ass cause we’ve got this, we can do this.”

Dan looked at him for a moment more before bursting out laughing. 

“You okay there, Phil?”

“Hey, look, I got you to laugh! Mission accomplished!” As much as he was joking, he was completely serious. He needed his Dan happy, he couldn’t help that he was hurt for a bit but he could and would do everything possible to keep Dan smiling.

Dan kept laughing, Phil soon joining in.

“You know what? Yea, we’ve got this. And Phil,” he paused for a moment while Phil settled his laughter, though not losing his amazing dorky smile, “thank you. I know what you’re doing, and thank you. I need this.”

He didn’t need to explain anything, he didn’t need to talk about what happened. He didn’t even need to figure out what they’d do when Dan could finally go home. Because he knew that as long as Phil was there, he could conquer everything. Though he could have definitely done without Phil’s laughter when he misheard the nurse who came in to check his vitals…

**Author's Note:**

> The hearing loss is based off of my own, everyone’s is different and causes different issues at different severities. I can function without hearing aids but it’s difficult and shoots my anxiety through the roof, especially if I don’t have someone with me to help me. Not everyone with hearing loss has the same problems that I wrote Dan as having.


End file.
